After some overnight rain last night, I had gotten the impression we might see some showers this morning, but what we actually got was some serious rain that lasted for the better part of two hours or so this morning before finally moving out and leaving us with a partly sunny day. That rain, however, didn't deter the 29 anglers in 17 boats from chasing bass until our 2 o'clock weigh-in this afternoon. Our collective eight hours on the water yielded a total of 67 fish, for a total weight of 135.47 pounds, which translates into an average of 2.02 pounds per bass and an average of 7.96 pounds per boat.
Our increased participation today resulted in more anglers going home with pay envelopes in their pockets. The winners were as follows:
1st Place (from left), Dave Anderson and Ken Testorff, 5 bass, 14.52 pounds total weight, 4.78-pound big fish, which captured the day's lunker pot.
2nd Place (from left), Chris and brother, Allen, Napier, 5 bass, 11.77 pounds total weight, no big fish.
3rd Place (from left), Andy and wife, Diana, Morath, 5 bass, 11.67 pounds total weight, 4.08-pound big fish.
4th Place (from left), Bobby Moore and Steve Bailey, 5 bass, 11.50 pounds total weight, 2.82-pound big fish.
5th Place, Skip Schaible, 5 bass, 11.43 pounds total weight, 4.21-pound big fish.
The mystery-weight award went to the husband-wife team of Nathan (not pictured) and Marjorie Gottsch. Their total weight for two fish was 2.51 pounds, which came closest to the drawn weight of 3.30 pounds.
Here is how everyone else finished today's competition:
* The team of Jim Wilder and Paul Anderson, 11.35 pounds total weight, 3.43-pound big fish.
* The team of Rob Peppers and Don Carter, 10.59 pounds total weight, 2.69-pound big fish.
* The team of Bob Glass and J. P. Twohig, 5 bass, 10.38 pounds total weight, no big fish.
* The team of Dave Dozier and Rich Hall, 5 bass, 10.19 pounds total weight, no big fish.
* Stan Krason, 5 bass, 8.93 pounds total weight, 2.54-pound big fish.
* The team of Rusty Girard and Gabe Himmelwright, 5 bass, 8.11 pounds total weight, no big fish.
* Wayne Hayes, 5 bass, 6.38 pounds total weight, no big fish.
* The team of Gary Coderre and Josh McCord, 5 bass, 6.14 pounds total weight, 1.66-pound big fish.
* Eric Killian, Zack Rhodes, and the team of Chris Fretard and Mike Miller didn't weigh any fish.
The following contestants fished their seventh tourney of the current season today, thereby completing their qualifications to fish our annual two-day Classic event in October: Gary Coderre, Steve Bailey, Rob Peppers, Zack Rhodes, and Ken Testorff.
Heartiest congratulations to all the winners from today, and thanks to everyone who came out to participate. For planning purposes, our next scheduled event will be Saturday, June 15, from safe light to 2 p.m. I hope you can join us.
Our tournament today marked the largest in attendance thus far in 2019. Can't say I really expected such a big turnout, especially since the weather gurus were calling for at least some storminess during the day.
Unfortunately, there indeed was a fair amount of lightning and thunder along with today's rain--enough that I kept a close eye on what was happening around me. Both my partner and I kept our rods low to the ground in an effort to reduce our exposure to the elements.
Don't know about the rest of you, but I, for one, have read some of the horror stories that have occurred when lightning hit a fishing rod while someone was holding it. By and large, such an occurrence is not a pretty picture. In most cases, people tend to get a little gun shy after only one lightning strike. I had some kinfolk who, back when I was only a kid, suffered repeated strikes over the course of a few years. Anytime he was outdoors when lightning and thunder started popping around him, he would knock you down while racing for cover.
Fortunately, neither Dave nor I suffered any close calls today, but we did talk about what our plans were if the conditions deteriorated any further. I don't relish the thought of looking like a piece of burnt toast after an up close and personal encounter with one of Mother Nature's lightning bolts.
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